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FANTASY MARQUETRY

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marquetry
47K views 256 replies 47 participants last post by  JeffVic 
#1 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
 

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#2 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
What a fun image! Don't over simplify - it's the scary part that makes projects fun!
 

Attachments

#3 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
I will greatly enjoy following your blog!!!
 

Attachments

#4 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
I agree Steve. I will be adding all the detail, but in stages. This is only the first stage.
 

Attachments

#5 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Thanks grace and don't be afraid to offer any advice underway.
 

Attachments

#6 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Looking forward to seeing this project progress. This will be a great learning process for all. Thanks for sharing.
 

Attachments

#7 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Mike,
I'll be following your progress. As it happens, I'm just now ready to begin cutting my first real project as well. I realize that I have the advantage of a couple weeks at ASFM, but you will quickly be amazed at the precision with which you can cut with your chevalet and a 2/0 blade. Even at that, I'm a rank amateur. LOL I presume you are cutting this project Boulle style? Bon chance!
Roger
 

Attachments

#8 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Ah, the adventure begins …... and your son's wonderful artwork makes me think of the beginning of one of the legendary hobbit adventures. Have fun with this, don't be to self critical and look out for orcs.
So much for advice.
I'd like to know how you plan to add detail "after the first cutting" but I'm sure this will come out in the next segment.
I'll be patient.
I do hope you have some purpleheart for the dragon.

I plan to be watching this with anticipation right to its inevitable successful completion. GO Mike!
 

Attachments

#9 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Julian I'm sure it will be a whole lot more learning than teaching from my side.

Roger There aren't too many challenging cuts to begin with so the first part should get me going for the more difficult part that follows.

Paul I will explain my planned process in the next blog, I just hope it works! Unfortunately I don't have have any purple heart so I'm using some burl something or other instead (seen at the very top of the photo). The color isn't too good, but it looks organic to me and should contrast ok with the surrounding colors. Alternatively I have a chunk of cocobolo that I can use providing it can be sliced thin enough. If I use that some highlights will have to be added to give it more life.

I remember Mike aka WDKITS 1 commenting in one of his blogs that his favorite part of doing an intarsia work was selecting the woods. I didn't understand that at the time, but after today I think I do. It's a very enjoyable process deciding which veneers to use. My stock is not very extensive but I did get some nice looking veneers at quite reasonable prices, especially the ones I bought from Ireland which were quite cheap. All of the veneer packs I bought from 3 different suppliers were in nice condition. The burl has buckled a bit so now I can see how it is to flatten them. I do have an awful lot to learn about selecting and buying them and that is a big part of the fun.
 

Attachments

#10 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Mike
I shall be watching your progress in anticipation of taking the same journey when my chevalet is finally completed.
If you spray your burls with a mixture of water and glycerine and then press them between sheets of paper they will flatten and become manageable.
Jim
 

Attachments

#11 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Jim Glad to have you with on my little journey and thanks for the tip. I have the glycerine already and I plan to spray the burl tomorrow. I hope you will be posting your chevalet when it's finished.
 

Attachments

#12 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
You can speed that process with hot cauls Mike. You can use them much hotter than for gluing. Most often you can also skip the glycerine. Ramond covers it very well in "Marquetry".
 

Attachments

#13 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Paul Thanks for the tip, I've probably read about it and forgotten. I don't have the cauls yet, but I will probably get the them after the weekend. Meanwhile I can get on with preparing the other veneers for the packet.

Roger I forgot to answer your question. No, this marquetry will not be Boulle style. I plan to use the 'Painting in Wood' packet method which is so well described here in Paul's excellent blog but with a small twist of my own (probably nothing new) which I will describe in my next installment of this series.
 

Attachments

#14 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Looks like an interesting project. I have complete confidence it will turn out very well.
 

Attachments

#15 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Well, that makes one of you Bob., but I will do my best not to disappoint you.
 

Attachments

#16 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
I doubt if I am alone ;-)
 

Attachments

#17 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Looks like a wonderful project. Your large dragons were amazing, I'm sure the wizard and little dragon will be another real work of art. I am just learning to use a scroll saw so this looks like magic to me. Or at least wizardry.

I'm looking forward to following along.

Rob
 

Attachments

#18 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Thanks Rob. Any art will be due to my son Mark. I'm more of a technician. My older son Steven who is the creative director in his ad agency says I seem to have more interest in the 'how to' rather than the art part, which he says is the most important. I agree, but only a relatively few have artistic talent and I'm not one of them, so I focus on what is possible for me.

Great to hear that you are taking up scroll sawing. It's a whole branch of woodworking with a lot of possibilities, marquetry among them. Some well known marquetry masters use only the scroll saw for their work. The main problem with scroll saws is when you want to cut packets which are very thick. Then the chevalet is a better tool.
 

Attachments

#19 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Hi Mike
That looks like a wonderful project and I will be watching as you progress .
This looks complicated to me but I am sure you will be explaining the process in detail as you go .
Have fun and let us enjoy along with you .
 

Attachments

#20 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Glad to have you with Klaus. I do plan to explain a lot more about my plans in my next blog. I want to document the work well enough to give a full understanding of the process, but some of that process will be experimental so I hope that will make it more dangerous and more fun.
 

Attachments

#21 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Thank you for sharing!
 

Attachments

#22 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
You go Mike. I will follow with great interest. I have some purpleheart, I wish I could share with you. I have a wonderful resource of some veneers that are more that 75 years old, many no longer available commercially. This old man would love to get them in the hands of someone who will use them well. I can't imagine how I could possible use what he has already given me much less how much more he has. now it becomes a logistics problem.
 

Attachments

#23 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
I think I have a pretty good choice for the dragon Ken so don't feel too sorry for me. I hope you get a chance to use some of those veneers. I find that working with them is a lot of fun with very mess, noise or dust.
 

Attachments

#24 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Wow! Git er done Mike. Gr8 stuff.
 

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#25 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Thanks Roger, I'll do my best, but no guarantee it will turn out good.
 

Attachments

#26 ·
PLANNING, DRAWING AND VENEER SELECTION

Why am I blogging this?
This will be my second marquetry using veneers. This one will be much more difficult than my first recently finished practice project (shown below) assigned to me by Paul aka Shipwright . It is probably too advanced for me at this stage and I will probably make a lot of mistakes, but I am hoping it will be a great learning experience if nothing else. My thought is that if you are at all interested you might enjoy seeing me stumble around in the dark for a couple of months while I work my way through this project and it will help motivate me to do my best so I won't look too dumb.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Wood stain Hardwood


I plan to use my new Chevalet for this project, but with the method I am using it could just as well be cut on a scroll sawl. So I hope you will join me and maybe have some laughs and who knows, you might even learn something if you're lucky.

Selecting a motif
I wanted to do something original this time. I'm not artistically inclined, but my son Mark is. He does a lot of fantasy work and I liked this little wizard sharing quality time with his small dragon. I told him I hoped he didn't mind my murdering his artwork and he said that it would be my art too since it was being done in a different medium. A very generous reply that warms an old dad's heart.

Painting Cloud Art Plant Grass


Producing the marquetry drawing
This turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The order of work on this is:

  1. I took a photo of the drawing from my computer's photo gallery and exported it a program 'Rapid Resizer'.
  2. Next I resized the photo and made it shades of gray so I could see the contrasts as an indication where different colored veneers would be used and to make it easier to trace (1st photo below).
  3. The enlarged picture was then taped onto my light table and a blank paper tape hinged over it for tracing.
  4. The first tracing I did (2nd photo below) was way too detailed and really discouraging.
  5. I decided that this project would have to be simplified and done in several stages with the first stage being a sort of background for the details (3rd photo below) which would be added after the first cutting.

Art Wood Tints and shades Painting Visual arts


Wood Gesture Art Automotive design Font


Font Art Tree Rectangle Pattern


I may simplify this last drawing even more by eliminating the clouds and the folds in the wizard's robe. This will help give grain continuity to the sky and also the robe.

Selection of background veneers
My thought process on the selection was as follows:

  1. Stay as true to the original artwork colors as possible.
  2. Use the lighter background colors first.
  3. Make the selection from veneers I had on hand.

Luckily I had ordered some blue and green dyed veneers. I am not too thrilled to use dyed veneers because I prefer natural wood colors to make it obvious that the picture is made from wood. However, I realize that this picture would fall pretty flat without the blue and green colors and so I'm trying to conquer my prejudice for the sake of the artwork.

Here are the first veneers I've selected. Others will be added at a later stage. As you see I have numbered them since I haven't a clue about all the different species. I do have a book of marquetry veneers by William A. Lincoln so I do plan to identify them in due course and I will include their names in this blog later.

The veneers shown are in sequential order starting with #1 at the bottom of the photo. You can compare these colors with the photo if you want to see if you like my selection, but remember other colors will be added later.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain


I welcome any suggestions you might have about anything I have done so far. I'm much more in the learning mode than the teaching mode here, so your comments will be appreciated whether negative or positive. My next blog will be about preparing the veneers for cutting, the method I plan to use and preparing the packet.

Thanks for looking in and I hope there is something interesting here for you.
Mike, thanks so much for letting us tag along as you wade into this project. This is going to be enjoyable and I am looking forward to it.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
 

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